Image capture devices in the form of still or video cameras are increasingly common and are often integrated with other devices such as mobile telephones. Nevertheless, it is still a commonplace event for people to be placed in a situation where they would like to take pictures or record video but do not have direct access to a suitable camera. For example, they may have simply forgotten to bring their camera or the camera they have brought may be no use because of a flat battery or lack of film, tape or memory space. Cases may even arise where a person has a working camera but it is inadequate in some way for taking pictures in a given situation. For example, a person may be carrying a mobile telephone which includes a camera but wishes to take pictures of distant wildlife. The low resolution and limited lens performance of some mobile phone cameras would only enable the user to obtain low quality images.
In such situations, there may be a number of other people with suitable working cameras in the vicinity. It may be possible for a first person without a suitable camera to obtain copies of the pictures or video captured by a second person. This may be carried out manually by swapping contact details and agreeing on a later delivery or may be carried out immediately by transmitting image data between the second person's camera and a suitable storage device held by the first person. For example, the camera may be equipped with Bluetooth™ technology and wirelessly transmit the image data to a similarly equipped personal digital assistant (PDA) held by the first person. However, obtaining such copies, even when electronically transferred, involves making contact with one or more of the other people and completing complex arrangements for any agreed delivery of the image data. This may be particularly difficult in busy or short-lived situations or events.